Blue Devils football season ends against Redwings

Monday

Oct 29, 2012 at 11:40 AMOct 30, 2012 at 12:47 PM

By DENNY SCHWARZEFOR THE EVENING NEWS

ST. JOHNS — As far as Sault High traveled, 260 miles from the Sault to here, and as far as they have come this season, from three wins over the past three seasons to the playoffs, it made Friday's 21-20 loss to St. Johns in the Division 3 football playoffs that much more painful.

"We've really been down the past two years, my sophomore and junior year, and me and my buddy (senior fullback and left guard) Austin Brown and were like 'we got to get these guys,'" senior Kyle Root said. "And we were in the weight room every day just working hard and everyone around just followed us and that's what got us to where we are now."

The Blue Devils (6-4) carried a 20-14 lead into the fourth quarter, but T.J. Havens scored on a 9-yard TD run with 9:22 remaining to put the Redwings (7-3) in front by a point.

The Blue Devils drove into St. Johns territory on their final drive before taking a sack on third down and watching a final fourth down pass from senior quarterback Ben Formolo sail too long down the sideline for an incompletion.

"A losing record was expected, especially this year," junior quarterback Michael James said. "We had people in the Sault, they were almost making fun of us for how bad of a team we were and it felt good to start gaining those fans back and start showing the Sault that we're the team that we're supposed to be and you can guarantee that we'll be here next year. … We've got to expect to do more."

Havens, who scored all three touchdowns for the Redwings, got St. Johns on the board first in the first quarter with a 16-yard touchdown catch.

The Blue Devils responded in the second quarter with a 1-yard run by Root on fourth down after St. Johns stuffed the previous three attempts.

With the score 7-6 after a blocked extra point, St. Johns grabbed the momentum right back with a 75-yard kick return by Havens for a touchdown. Havens led the Redwings with 104 yards.

Sault High scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead on a 13-yard pass from Formolo to Root with 19 seconds left in the first half, and a 33-yard James run to take a 20-14 lead before Havens punched in the go ahead score on St. Johns' next possession.

The Blue Devils outgained St. Johns by over 100 yards in total offense and outrushed the Redwings 240-208. James led the Devils with 100 yards rushing on seven carries. Root added 97 yards on 18 carries.

"All the credit goes to the blocking and the linemen," James said. "That's especially something that's different from this year to last year. Our blocking, we were able to do things and create paths for not just myself, but other running backs as well."

"Very slippery, very jittery and faster than he appeared on film," Redwings coach Dave Mariage said of James. "We knew he was good. He was shifty and (Root) was just a beast. I mean, that kid was a tough runner."

The Blue Devils made the playoffs in consecutive years for the only time in school history in 2006-07 and will try to match that feat next season.

"This was a big step for them and a big step for our program and I just kind of thanked them for all the time and effort they had put in and just tried to tell the juniors and the sophomores that we brought up that they have big goals to aspire for," Blue Devils coach Scott Menard said. "They have to work as hard as our seniors have in the last three years."

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